Year-long celebration of Gujarat`s golden anniversary ends

Ahmedabad: A year-long, state government-organised celebration of 50 years of Gujarat`s statehood ended with a cultural extravaganza at the Sardar Patel Stadium here on Sunday night.

The state government had organised a host of programmes, between April 29 and May 1, to mark the conclusion of the anniversary celebrations with all government and semi-government buildings being illuminated. The opposition Congress boycotted the functions, alleging they were organised in a partisan way and participating party leaders had been insulted.

It also charged Chief Minister Narendra Modi with turning the state`s golden jubilee celebrations into one of 10 years of his own rule, ignoring all the other figures who had contributed to the state`s development.

Earlier Sunday, Modi paid tributes to the torchbearer of Mahagujarat movement, Indulal Yagnik, popularly known as Induchacha, at his statue in Lal Darwaza area area and then visited the `Shahid Smarak` (martyrs` memorial) in Bhadra.

Governor Kamla Beniwal Friday inaugurated an exhibition on `Glimpses of Gujarat`s development during the last decade`. On Saturday, a march past by paramilitary and police personnel was held in Gandhinagar followed by a conference of Non-Resident Gujaratis.

The Congress kept away from all the events. In a letter to Modi, Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil said that his party supported the golden jubilee celebrations and the state government had assured that that party politics would not be brought in the celebrations and the dignity of all would be maintained.

Gohil alleged that the Modi government did not live up to its promise. "The names of the elected Congress representatives are missing from the invitation card. On the contrary, names of office bearers of BJP are printed with their posts which they hold in the party.

There were also instances when Congress members were invited on the dais,and humiliated in highly political vindictive speeches by ruling party members," he wrote in the letter.